Moberly gets part of payment for building project

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Officials in the central Missouri city of Moberly say they’ve received part of a promised payment for a troubled construction project.

The city issued $39 million in bonds to help Mamtek U.S. Inc. build an artificial sweetener plant facility that could employ several hundred people. But the construction is incomplete, and Mamtek missed a payment a bond payment a couple of months ago.

Former Mamtek CEO Bruce Cole had said he would pay Moberly $250,000 by Monday and $3.2 million within a month to turn the project over to his new company.

The Columbia Daily Tribune reports (http://bit.ly/pvIxyT ) that Moberly has now received $45,000 from Cole, who said the rest would come from an international bank.